dear sixteen year old me: glee edition
by oh snap itz greed
Summary: The Glee Club reunites for one last song. AU in a way. Absolutely no pairings (except for a the first chapter)


**dear sixteen year old me: glee edition**

**summary: The Glee Club reunites for one last song. **

* * *

Chap 1. Rachel

She's different now. In a 'I've gained true wisdom' kind of way. She's not as obnoxious as she used to be. She's not as loud. She's still Rachel though.

She's hardened up. You could say it started when she was twenty. Finn's death was only really sinking in at that time. She sunk into some… spiral of depression.

She smoked. She drank. She did everything she never thought she would do. She couldn't control herself. The idea that he was really gone shook her to her core.

Mr. Schue smiles at all of them as he turns around. The faint scent of electricity fills the air as the smart board processes what he wrote. The place is so different now.

Instead of a white board, there's a built in smart board. Laptops are built into desks, and YouTube now partners with Glee Clubs, so all competitions take place in your own choir room.

His face is more lined, she notices. Grey hair in places, and he's definitely balding. More pudgy too, like he's let himself go. "Haven't got to do this in a while," he chuckles.

"But I'm going to try anyway.

"This week's assignment is sixteen year old you. How much have you changed since you were sixteen? Have you gained or lost demons? Fulfilled or lost your dreams?"

"Take that, take a song, and put it together.

Her hand flies up, almost as if she really is sixteen again. "Mr. Schue, when will we present this? I have a flight back to New York in a couple of hours. I didn't think this reunion would be rescheduled so late."

Santana grumbles in the background, and Rachel has to bite her tongue to stifle herself. She and Santana parted ways on the worst of terms. She hoped to never see her again.

The fluorescent lights give the room eerie warmth as they wait. It's dark outside, and she always thought that schools took on a new feel in the night.

Different.

"I don't think this will be a particularly hard assignment." He sends her a small smile. "We can go whenever someone's ready." She scoffs. Really? Projects like these take time.

Effort.

Proper looks into the human Psyche.

Damn it. She nods, stands, and turns to face her former friends. So old. So sad and tired. She never thought she'd see them like this. She preferred to imagine them young. Untainted.

She thinks back to herself. When she was young and untainted. How stupid and idealistic and amazing she was. She misses that. Her optimism. Her cheerfulness. Her son said it best.

'_You're so depressing Mother!' _

She thinks back to when it started. Her favourite song during that period of darkness. She never knew why she was drawn to it. She just was. She just couldn't stop listening.

It wasn't Broadway or Pop. It was something she used to tolerate, and just that. She smiles wryly. Now she can see everything. "Hit it…" She turns to see that it's not Brad, but a kid who looks incredibly bored.

He snaps out of his daze. "Yeah?" She groans. "Hit it." He stares at her. "I gotta know what you want me to play." Right. He's not Brad. He's not going to magically know every note of the song she wants to sing.

She skips too him, leans down, and whispers it into his ear." He smiles, like he's happy he gets to play some 'real music' and not the 'trash' on radios nowadays.

She doesn't know if there's an all piano version of this, but if there isn't she hopes he'll improvise. With a deep breath, she walks back to the center of the stage. "Hit it."

* * *

_I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh_

_I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away_

_I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well_

_I wanna hold you high and steal your pain_

_'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome_  
_And I don't feel right when you're gone away_

_You've gone away, you don't feel me here anymore._

_The worst is over now and we can breathe again_  
_I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away_  
_There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight_  
_I wanna hold you high and steal your pain_

_'Cause I'm broken when I'm open_  
_And I don't feel like I am strong enough_  
_'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome_  
_And I don't feel right when you're gone away_

_'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome_  
_And I don't feel right when you're gone away_

_You've gone away_  
_You don't feel me here anymore_

* * *

"Dear sixteen year old me." She feels bitter as she says this. "Don't stop believing." _  
_

* * *

_A/N: Me and my goddamn need to write depressing fics. Anyway, just some stuff to clarify. Everyone here is in their forties, meaning Mr. Schue is in his late seventies to early eighties. _

_They're having their first and last reunion. _

_Finn is dead in this universe, but I'm not going to say how because I want it to fit into S5's canon as much as possible. Considering S5 hasn't even started yet. _

_There will be tons of things mentioned, but never expanded on. Like the way Santana and Rachel ended their friendship. And what exactly turned Rachel so cynical. Yeah yeah she did drugs. _

_But what turned her into this bitter person? _

_And her song is Broken ft. Amy Lee by Seether. Great song, check it out. _

_Everyone will get a song and a 'letter to themselves.' Even Mr. Schue. Good? Good. Hope you enjoyed, favourite and follow if you did, and make sure to review! Makes my day and keeps me writing._


End file.
